Huawei's Harmony OS-powered smartphones could hit the European market as early as 2022, but lack of Google Play is still a dealbreaker

Speaking to a Romanian outlet, a Huawei executive recently confirmed that the company will be releasing devices powered by HarmonyOS on the European market, as early as next year.  At present, Huawei phones, especially flagships, are rather difficult to get hold of in Europe and the US.

This is in large part due to the US government blacklisting the company over national security issues. As part of the blacklist exercise, Google services were banned on Huawei devices.

HarmonyOS was built by Huawei, on the Android Open Source Project, as an alternative platform to power their phones. Recently though, the Huawei Nova 9, a HarmonyOS-powered midrange smartphone launched in Europe running Android 11.

The Huawei exec's statement that devices powered by the homemade OS will only be ready by 2022 indicates that Huawei's still working on their European localizations. It may also be addressing any potential GDPR compliance issues. This is a real problem: last year, a Huawei manager in Germany sued the company for being in breach of the data protection laws, and for possibly funneling sensitive data back to Chinese servers.

A revamp of HarmonyOS for the European market could mean the arrival of more Huawei devices in Europe in the months to come. However, the glaring lack of support for Google Play services is likely to remain a dealbreaker for many customers.